


reality is painful

by pockapocky



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst, Betrayal, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hurt, M/M, Multi, Murder, Murder Mystery, Other, Platonic Romance, Realization, Resolved or Unresolved ending? who knows..., Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Traitor, if i should even tag that??? lol, painful truth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:07:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26701135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pockapocky/pseuds/pockapocky
Summary: When oblivious meets the obvious, anything can happen. FEELINGS happen. He's fallen for him, HARD. And maybe so did he. But if he found out he wasn't who he thought he would be, then what would happen next?It's... painful. Everything is painful. Reality is painful. Both of them had to experience and accept that.
Relationships: Black/Orange (Among Us), Black/White (Among Us), Blue/Purple (Among Us), Cyan/Orange (Among Us), Cyan/Red (Among Us), Orange/Pink (Among Us), Orange/Yellow (Among Us), Red & Cyan (Among Us), Red/Yellow (Among Us)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> "Staying in fantasy doesn't guarantee you that you can escape from reality."

Cyan coughed and wheezed, crawling out of the station’s dressing room where the monster waited for him. He was panicking. He was in pain. The lower half of his body was detached from his torso and blood was pooling from everywhere he went. Blood behind him, blood in his helmet, blood in his… _everywhere._ He didn’t know why he was still fighting to keep himself alive, even though he knew that— even with his critical conditions, he wouldn’t be able to survive.

Thousands upon thousands of thoughts ran through his mind as he struggled to crawl out of the bloody massacre that was his dressing room. Everything came so fast.

If his crew were to notice his absence, they would postpone the ship’s most important takeoff yet. If he wasn’t able to be present in case the ship _does_ takeoff without him, what would his fellow crewmates do? He wouldn’t be able to help, and because the ship’s members were chosen to be the right amount, just one missing crewmate will jeopardize the whole protocol of tasks given to them.

Millions of things were running in his fading brain, but one thought shined the brightest of all. A flash of someone’s orange suit came in Cyan’s mind. He felt the tears form in his eyes.

If… he wasn’t present for the ship’s takeoff if it ever does, then what would Orange do…? What would happen if Orange found out he was missing? What would happen if Orange never found him in these last moments of his?

**“Orange…”** Cyan painfully coughed with the last of his energy. The monster, the— _impostor,_ heard his dying words, and with its sharp, alien limbs, it stabbed the dying man’s back and dragged him up to its face, an evil grin meeting a grimaced expression of what’s left of an astronaut. **“I’ll take good care of your crew, _Mr. Spaceman._ You have _nothing_ to worry about.” **The bastard growled, snaking his limbs around Cyan’s torn body.

 **“What happens to your crew, is all up to me, now.”** It said, letting out a chilling laughter. **“…No… I-! Grgh-!?”** Cyan screamed so painfully, so loudly he felt his throat hurting… but it didn’t seem like anyone could hear him. The long limbs of the impostor stabbed through his helmet and through his head, ending the frightening wails of the poor man.

And that was probably the last breath Cyan released before his life had been stolen from his hands.

Dropping the empty carcass, an opening jingle of an intercom rang across the whole station, catching the impostor’s attention.

**“Calling all crewmates: Ship #284 will launch soon. To the crew assigned to the ship, please be reminded to gather in the terminal for decontamination. Please also be reminded to wear your space suits and have your list of tasks for maintenance with you. And always remember our mantra, ‘If we ever need a helping hand with tasks, a friend is always among us.’ That is all.”**

Then the closing jingle played. A ship number was mentioned. Looking around, ‘Cyan’ saw a bloody wallet on the floor. While searching through the leather wallet, it found a card and a small list. Upon inspecting the card, it was happy to find the numbers: ‘#284’ on the card’s print.

What a coincidence.


	2. the first signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment of the launch was always the most nerve-racking moments.

Orange stretched his arms as he was on his bed. He was feeling a little giddy. Today was launch day of the new ship, and he was excited to do maintenance on the new outpost on the new foreign planet in their satellites. Everything was new! That’s why he was so excited. But he was mostly excited because of the new crew he was part of.

Orange was always the type to be friends with new people easily. He had no trouble fitting in, and he had no trouble getting along with others. His personality was more ideal to a customer service worker than an astronaut, and that’s a fact! Everybody was fond of him. **“Orange! Get up, you lazy son of a gun! You already heard the intercom and you’re still lying down on your bed like a total _idiot!”_**

Well, except Yellow, of course.

Orange sighed, sitting up on his mattress. Yellow was one of the ten crewmates that were in Orange’s crew, but that doesn’t stop him from being on Orange’s back all the time. He’s always been a bit of a prick towards Orange, but Orange never minded it. Yellow’s also a proud father of two! His kids seemed to love going on their father’s space ‘adventures’, and Yellow always agreed to take them regardless of how dangerous it might be for children as young as them.

 **“Get to your dressing room, you dumb arse.”** Orange chuckled and stood up. **“Alright, alright! I swear, you’re so sharp towards me! Don’t wait until Red scolds you for being mean to me~!”** He pouted, teasing Yellow. Yellow rolled his eyes, and grabbed his helmet from Orange’s desk. **“Don’t pull Red into this, Orange. You’re just trying to get on my nerves all because you found out my feelings towards him.”** He spat. Orange chuckled.

 **“Come on, Yellow. You _should’ve_ known that if I knew about the fact that you hated Red’s guts, that I would tease you for it. In fact, you hate _everyone’s_ guts, so it might not even matter!” **He laughed. Yellow just scoffed and walked out of Orange’s room.

Standing up, Orange got into his suit, wrote down the list of his tasks for maintenance and made his way to the ship’s terminal.

On the way to the terminal, Orange caught sight of Cyan in the halls. He waved and charged at him, grinning. Cyan was startled and nearly jumped. **“Cyan! Hi! You on your way to the terminal too, right?”** He greeted him. Cyan looked at him weirdly. With a rough voice, he spoke. **“The terminal for- ahem.”** He cleared his throat. **“The terminal for Ship #284?”**

Orange hummed as he nodded. **“Yeah, man! We’re in Red’s crew, remember?”** He said, looking confused. Cyan nodded. **“Ah- Yes. Yeah, I’m in… Red’s crew.”** He confirmed to himself. Orange was a little concerned. He heard Cyan’s voice earlier and he sounded sick. **“Hey, are you alright? You sound sick! You didn’t get sick last minute, didn’t you?”** He stared at him deeply. Cyan didn’t seem to like how much he was staring, so he looked away.

 **“I’m not sick, I just ate something earlier. Felt sticky on my throat, maybe that’s why.”** He answered. Orange nodded. **“Ah, I see. Your voice sounded so different, that’s why I figured you were.”** He chuckled.

They walked beside each other to their ship’s terminal in silence. No words were exchanged, and no sounds were present. There were just the sounds of the metal floor clanking to the steps of their boots and the chatters of other crew members through the hallways.

Orange decided to start up a chat with his fellow partner to fit the gap in their silence. **“You excited about the fact that we’re the first _ever_ crew to visit the new Polus Outpost? What are the odds of that uninhabited planet showing up in our radar?” **He excitedly asked him. Cyan hummed. **“The chances of showing up in this station’s radar are pretty high if I had to be honest. Polus _is_ a common planet throughout your- uh, _our…_ star system” **He explained.

This information drop was certainly surprising for Orange. It was fascinating. **“Wow! You certainly know a lot about this planet we’ve never went to before, huh Cyan?”** Cyan flinched. **“Ah- Well… I just decided to…”**

 **“That’s awesome!”** Orange smiled brightly. Cyan blinked. Turns out this man was more oblivious than an idiot.

After a while, they arrived at their ship’s terminal with the door’s loud hiss. The rest of the crew was already there, and it was only Orange and Cyan that they were waiting for. Red, their crew leader, approached them with a huff and putting his hands on his hips.

 **“Where have you two been, hm!? What took you so long? You were lucky that the General was nice enough to permit the fact that you two _delayed_ the ship’s launch!” **Red scolded, slapping the top of Orange’s head. Orange chuckled. **“I already told Orange to get dressed, but all he did was laze around in his room. He’s painfully hardheaded.”** Yellow spat. The rest of the crew only snickered at them as Red sighed, irritated.

The one in the white suit spoke with a deep, firm voice, surprising Cyan slightly. **“Yellow, you’re always so sharp on Orange. You should be used to his ‘punctuality’ by now! You too, Red.”** Orange pointed finger guns at the white suit. **“ _Exactly!_ ” **

The one in the purple suit giggled, putting his hand on his helmet’s glass front. **“Huh, I don’t know, darlings. Maybe those two did a little… _steamy_ stuff. Maybe the cleanup took them longer than expected!” **He teased. Wh- _'cleanup'!?_ Cyan glanced at Orange. The dark tint on his helmet made it harder to see his face, but he could _definitely_ tell he was glowing without him even saying anything.

The other person in the brown suit punched the purple suit in his arm. The purple one only giggled harder. **“There are _kids_ here, Purple! Shut it!” **The brown one exclaimed. He sighed. **“Sorry, Orange. Purple just _doesn’t shut it, sometimes_.” **He said, glaring at the chortling Purple.

 **“It’s fine, Brown.”** Orange said. **“I’m sorry too, darling. Offending you wasn’t my intention. It was just teasing.”** Purple also apologized. **“Did you prepare your makeup by the way, honeycomb?”** Pink asked him. The person in the blue suit clicked his tongue. **“Purple, we’re going on a _space maintenance mission,_ not a fashion show! Besides, we have tinted helmets anyways. Even if you _did_ give him makeup, it wouldn’t even be visib-“ **

Purple put his finger on the blue one’s helmet where his mouth supposedly was, shushing him. **“Makeup is _never_ unnecessary, Blue, baby.” **He held Blue’s face, nuzzling his helmet against his. **“Tch, stop.”** He scoffed, earning a giggle from Purple. The one in the black suit sighed. **“You two are painful.”**

A person in a pink suit approached the two and smiled at them sweetly before putting on his helmet. **“It’s absolutely okay to be late, Orange. It’s not a problem if you’re not early most of the time, so don’t worry, okay?”** Orange nodded. **“Of course, Pink!”**

After all the ruckus, Red cleared his throat to catch everyone’s attention. Everyone stood in a line except Cyan. Red glared at him before Orange pulled Cyan beside him. What was he doing? **“Hey, get in here…! You _know_ how Red gets when someone doesn’t follow the rules, remember?” **Orange whispered in Cyan’s ear. **“Ah- I was… uh, zoned out.”** He explained.

After he was put in line, Red got to his usual pep talk before their launch and listed each person’s attendance. Afterwards, he asked for everyone’s list of tasks to check if they were all prepared, like usual. When he got to Cyan, though, he wasn’t giving anything to him at first. Red raised his brow. **“Cyan, your list?”** He asked. **“Ah, it’s here.”** Cyan fished for his wallet and gave the list he had to Red. **“Alright, keep this and get them done immediately once we land.”** He said.

Cyan nodded. **“Yes, sir.”** Red returned his list back to him and went to swipe his card on the door’s reader. The door hissed open and the few workers gave them the last of their necessities for the ship’s launch. After all preparations were finished, one by one, all of them boarded the ship. Orange was about to climb the ship’s ladder when Black stopped him and pulled him back down.

 **“…Orange.”** Black muttered. Orange hummed. **“Have you noticed how weird Cyan’s been acting…? He _didn’t_ fall in line when Red ordered us to, but he was usually the first to straighten up. He also didn’t call Red by his name, either. He called him ‘sir’! Didn’t him and Red drop formalities since… forever ago?” **Black asked, concern in his quiet voice. Orange tilted his head in confusion.

What did that mean? Cyan? Acting weird? He wasn't too concerned about that, but he was more surprised about the fact that Black spoke to him for once. Orange always thought Black hated his guts for being too loud all the time

 **“Huh? He isn’t acting weird at all. Not sure what you’re getting at. Sure, maybe he’s out of it, but most certainly not weird. I’m not sure what you mean.”** Black hummed. **“Maybe I’m just overreacting. I mean, you know him more than I do, I might not know how he’s usually like.”** Orange’s brows furrowed underneath his helmet. **“You must be _really_ looking into this so mu-“ **Before Orange could finish his sentence, Red called out into them. **“We’re launching, you two! Both of you better get in here before we takeoff without you.”** He called out.

They both climbed the stairs and got in the ship. And with the hatch opened and the whole crew being buckled on ready for takeoff, the ship launched, and they were on their way to the new Polus Outpost.

~

Hours have passed since the crew took off. Everyone was going about their usual ways, and nothing was interesting. However, a security guard noticed something off about the station’s security cameras. All of the CCTVs were offline, and all the sensors have been shut off. It seemed like something rebooted their security systems.

 _‘It must’ve been a fault,’_ The guard told himself. So, he decided to turn the security systems back on again to get things back running. He hated doing electrical, but since almost no technicians were on at this hour, he needed to do it himself.

Still. The systems were checked and fully functional only about a few hours ago; _way_ before the recent launch. It was still off. Who-? Or rather- _What,_ rebooted the security systems?

He didn’t know why or what's causing it, but the guard’s gut definitely felt something was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> forgot to mention that chapters are very short, so hopefully its not that much of a problem!! <3  
> i'll limit these end notes next chapter
> 
> haAAAA im really trying hard not to get art block with this one quqqqq

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO NEW WORK HI  
> this fic has been pushed and have been inspired by the many people who have demanded a full version of the little snippet idea i posted on the comic @sami_jen from twitter drew and made!!! (link below) i take no credit on the story or something, just the full fleshed story and and fic itself! here's a toast to new story of angst and misery :'') please go check the comic out!!!! the art is absolutely lovely, and it was the main inspiration for this fic!!  
> hopefully i dont disappoint a bunch of people with this one ;;-;;  
> ALSO! the story will be told in alternating perspectives, so if you notice any changes in the tones of each chapter, now you know why!!
> 
> https://twitter.com/sami_jen/status/1308798343942819840


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